Genes May Influence Lovers

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – On Valentine’s Day we can turn to the person we love and tell them how lucky we are to have them – or perhaps something not so kind. But for the purposes of this medical report we will focus on the fact that many lovers thank their lucky stars they have the partner that they have.

But according to a study out of Boston, the choice of our friends or lovers may not be necessarily all a choice. Could our genes influence whom we choose as friends and lovers?

Researchers looked at over 9000 individuals’ genetic signatures for 6 genes known to have significant effects on friendship and love. What they found is that people in this group who had a gene called drd2 tended to hang around each other while those with other genes did not. In other words random groupings were not so random.

More work needs to be done to support this but the odds are it won’t be completed on Valentine’s Day and I thought it would be more fun to share the early work today.

Reported By Dr. Brian McDonough, KYW Newsradio Medical Editor

Dr. Brian McDonough

Dr. Brian McDonough has been medical editor at KYW Newsradio for more than a quarter-century (since 1987)!
Brian McDonough has been honored as Family Physician of the Year by the Delaware Academy of Family Physicians, and is a Sir William Osler...